以資源基礎架構分析中小企業科技化合作模式 - 政大學術集成

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(1)國立政治大學資訊管理學系 . 碩士學位論文指導教授:張欣綠博士 . 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. 以資源基礎架構分析中小企業科技化合作模式 . ‧. sit. y. Nat. A Resource-based Framework for Analyzing IT-enabled. n. al. er. io. Collaboration in Small and Medium Enterprises. . Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 研究生：傅暄涵中華民國一○一年六月.

(2) 以資源基礎架構分析中小企業科技化合作模式摘要中小企業一向是經濟成長的主力，然而受限其資源的短缺，往往無法提供顧客更好的商品或服務。雖然文獻指出中小企業可以透過資訊科技與夥伴和顧客合作來克服它先天的弱勢並提供更好的服務，但仍有許多模糊未解的問題。例如，哪一種中小企業較願意導入以資訊科技為基礎的協同合作模式 (IT-enabled Collaboration)？而這樣的合作模式是否能真正的提升他們的績效表現呢？本研究以資源基礎理論和服務導向邏輯理論(service-dominant logic)為基礎，將資源分為 operant 資源、operand 資源、資源互補性及資源相似性，試圖找出在何種資源模式下，中小企業會偏向使用以資訊科技為基礎的協同合作模式。研究方法採用個案研究，並以宜蘭縣枕頭山休閒農業區的八家中小型業者為目標進行訪談。在資料蒐集和分析之後，本研究發現 operand 資源與 operant 資源皆會正向的影響到中小企業對科技化合作的參與，其中又以 operant 資源的影響為更大。此外，從研究中也驗證了科技化合作能促成中小企業績效的提升。根據研究結果，本研究將 operant 資源視為影響中小企業導入科技化合作模式進而達成績效提升的主要關鍵資源。. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. ‧. 關鍵詞：資訊科技、協同合作、資源基礎理論、服務導向邏輯理論、中小企業. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. ii . i n U. v.

(3) A Resource-based Framework for Analyzing IT-enabled Collaboration in Small and Medium Enterprises ABSTRACT Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are the main force to economic growth, but they usually restricted by resource shortage when they want to upgrade goods or services. Past literature has indicated collaboration with partners and customers through information technology (IT) may overcome their weakness and serve better. However, there still are blurs, like what kind of SMEs are more likely to engage IT-enabled collaboration? Will IT-enabled collaboration really enhance SMEs performance? Our research framework based on resource-based view and service-dominant logic categorizing SME resources into (1) operand resources, (2) operant resources, (3) resource complementarity and (4) resource similarity. We attempt to find out what key resources in SMEs are related to the usage of IT-enabled collaboration and the contributions to SME performance. We conduct case study with 8 SMEs in Mt. Pillow Leisure Agriculture Area. After data collection and analysis, we figure out that both operand and operant resources have positive impact on IT-enabled collaboration; furthermore, operant resources contribute more for SMEs to communicate and coordinate with each other and customers. In addition, from our research, we demonstrate that IT-enabled collaboration helps SMEs to perform better. Therefore, we suggest operant resources as important resources for SMEs engaging in IT-enabled collaboration and consequently enhancing their performance.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Keywords: IT-enabled collaboration, resource-based view, service-dominant logic, small and medium sized enterprises. iii .

(4) CONTENT CONTENT .................................................................................................................... vi TABLES & FIGURES .................................................................................................. vi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................... 1 1.1 Research Motivation ........................................................................................ 1 1.2 Research Objectives and Questions ................................................................. 2 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................... 3 2.1 IT-enabled Collaboration ................................................................................. 3 2.1.1 Collaborating with partners................................................................... 3 2.1.2 Collaborating with customers ............................................................... 4 2.2 Resource-based Theory .................................................................................... 6 2.2.1 Traditional view .................................................................................... 6 2.2.2 Service-oriented view ........................................................................... 8 2.2.3 Summary ............................................................................................... 9. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FRAMEWORK .......................................................... 11 3.1 SME Resources .............................................................................................. 12 3.1.1 Operand resources ............................................................................... 12 3.1.2 Operant resources................................................................................ 12 3.1.3 Resource complementarity.................................................................. 13 3.1.4 Resource similarity ............................................................................. 13 3.2 IT-enabled Collaboration ............................................................................... 14 3.2.1 Collaborating with partners................................................................. 14 3.2.2 Collaborating with customers ............................................................. 14. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. n. v i n CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .................................................... 16 Ch i e h ngc U 4.1 Case Background ........................................................................................... 16 4.2 Data Collection .............................................................................................. 18. CHAPTER 5: CASE ANALYSIS ............................................................................. 19 5.1 Data Analysis ................................................................................................. 19 5.2 Discussion ...................................................................................................... 27 5.2.1 Impact of operand and operant resource on IT-enabled collaboration 27 5.2.2 Impact of resource complementarity and similarity on IT-enabled collaboration ................................................................................................ 29 5.2.3 Impact of IT-enabled collaboration on SME performance ................. 30 5.3 Findings.......................................................................................................... 31 CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................... 33 6.1 Summary ........................................................................................................ 33 6.2Limitations and Implications of Future Research ........................................... 33 iv .

(5) REFERENCE ............................................................................................................. 35 Appendix A: Question List for the Interview (Chinese version) ........................... 41 Appendix B: Interview Contents and Data Analysis (Chinese version) ............... 42. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. v . i n U. v.

(6) TABLES & FIGURES Table 2-1 Resource Categories in RBV ....................................................... 10 Figure 3-1 Research Framework .................................................................. 11 Table 4-1 Detail of Eight Cases ................................................................... 17 Table 4-2 Validities and Realities Tests ....................................................... 18 Table 5-1 Analytical Result of Eight Cases ................................................. 26 Figure 5-1-a .................................................................................................. 28 Figure 5-1-b ................................................................................................. 28 Figure 5-2-a .................................................................................................. 29 Figure 5-2-b ................................................................................................. 29 Figure 5-3-a .................................................................................................. 29 Figure 5-3-b ................................................................................................. 29 Figure 5-4-a .................................................................................................. 30 Figure 5-4-b ................................................................................................. 30 Figure 5-5-a .................................................................................................. 31 Figure 5-5-b ................................................................................................. 31. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. vi . i n U. v.

(7) CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Research Motivation Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play an important role in world economic growth by increasing employment opportunities and consequently generating income (Tambunan, 2000; Madrid-Guijarro et al., 2009). For example, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), on average, SMEs represent a major share of all firms (99%), employment (approximately two-thirds) and value added (over one half) within participating areas (OECD, 2010).. 政治大. However, the performance of SMEs is usually limited by their poor resources, such as low financial budgets, few qualified employees, barriers of managerial and technological competencies, and lack of insight into long-term strategies (OECD, 2010). For these reasons, researchers and governments have widely discussed how SMEs can become more sustainable and develop competitive advantages.. 立. ‧ 國. 學. ‧. Many studies demonstrate that forming a strategic alliance is an effective way for SMEs to ameliorate performance (Davenport, 2005; Dollinger and Golden, 1992; Gomes-Casseres, 1997; OECD, 2010). For instance, Davenport (2005) claimed that the collaboration of SMEs supports SME growth through knowledge acquisition; Dollinger and Golden (1992) pointed out that SMEs may be able to enhance performance by pooling resources with other firms. Cooperating and forming partnerships has become a common strategy in the tourism sector, for example (Reid et al., 2008). Through collaborations, SMEs can diversify their service portfolios to fit a variety of customers’ expectations.. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. As information technology (IT) is flourishing in the 2000s, it often enables collaborations among enterprises (Skipper et al., 2008). IT is the tool that makes coordination more feasible (Kumar and Dissel, 1996), as it effectively facilitates the sharing of knowledge between partners (Füller et al., 2009). With IT, SMEs have radically changed; for example, they are able to directly connect to and collaborate with potential customers, which provide them with opportunities to compete with large firms (OECD, 2008). Although IT-enabled collaboration is important to SMEs, most of them still fail to collaborate. The resource-based view (RBV) may provide an explanation for this phenomenon. According to resource-based theory, a firm gains strategic advantages 1 .

(8) from resources that are rare, valuable, inimitable, and not easily substituted (Barney, 1991). Therefore, SMEs must use their modest resources in effective and innovative ways to provide competitive services. Many researchers have tried to categorize resources to analyze them (Grant, 1991; Hall, 1992; Srivastava et al., 2001). With a resource-based view that adopts service-dominant (S-D) logic, resources can be classified as either operand or operant (Vargo and Lusch, 2004a). In summary, we recognized that collaborations among SMEs are essential, and SMEs will benefit when they use IT for these activities. Then, we briefly explored resource-based theory to explain the foundation on which SMEs can build competitive advantages. However, there are still many interesting and valuable questions that have remained unanswered in the literature. What resources does an SME need to significantly benefit from IT-enabled collaboration? Does an SME’s decision to employ IT-enabled collaboration directly impact its performance? These questions led to the development of our research objectives. . 立. 政治大. 1.2 Research Objectives and Questions. ‧ 國. 學. ‧. The overall goal of this research was to build a resource-based framework with which to analyze SMEs engaged in IT-enabled collaboration. We sought to examine the resources of SMEs, understand SMEs’ use of IT to form alliances, and evaluate the performances that result from these alliances. In the process, we proposed to answer the following questions:. io. sit. y. Nat. n. al. er. 1. What important resources must SMEs have to participate in and benefit from IT-enabled collaboration?. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 2. After an SME participates in IT-enabled collaboration, does its performance improve enough to recommend that it collaborate with other SMEs and customers? In answering these questions, we sought to construct an effective framework to which SMEs can refer. The hope is that SMEs will be able to establish better strategies when they learn which key resources are significant to IT-enabled collaboration and performance.. 2 .

(9) CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW In this study, we used resource-based theory to explore how SMEs can enhance their performance through IT-enabled collaboration. Before we propose our own model, we will review related literature. In this chapter, we will first focus on studies regarding IT-enabled collaboration and then turn to research on the resource-based view.. 2.1 IT-enabled Collaboration A firm can collaborate with two distinctly separate groups: partners and customers. We will illustrate the importance of IT-enabled collaboration in terms of an SME’s interactions with each of these groups.. 立. 政治大. 2.1.1 Collaborating with partners. ‧ 國. 學. ‧. During the past few decades, alliances have become one of the most important organizational entities. Collaboration with partners, also known as an “alliance,” is defined as any independently initiated inter-firm link that involves exchange, sharing or co-development (Gulati, 1995a; Kale et al., 2002).. y. Nat. sit. n. al. er. io. The motivations for a firm to form an alliance include, for example, being able to solve market failure problems caused by resource specificity, strengthening the firm’s competitive position, and absorbing extra knowledge from partners (Williamson, 1985; Porter and Fuller, 1986; Kogut, 1988). By forming a strategic alliance, a firm can increase its product complexity and variety and supplement its core competencies by allying with other providers of complementary competencies to satisfy customers (McIvor et al., 2003). An alliance could influence not only a firm’s capabilities, but also others’ perceptions of its capabilities (Baum et al., 2000). Deciding on a partner is complicated and depends on the size of each SME, resource constraints, strategic position, social structure, level of trust, and prior experiences with alliances (Powell et al., 1996; Eisenhardt and Schoonhoven, 1996; Gulati, 1995a; Gulati, 1995b).. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Because SMEs have limited resources, they are in particular jeopardy in environments that are becoming increasingly complex and turbulent. Collaborating with partners in their sector is especially important to SMEs overcoming their resource shortages and increasing their viability in difficult economic times (Hoffmann and Schlosser, 2001). Fernández and Nieto (2005) also indicated that SMEs can make alliances to obtain necessary resources from other firms through the 3 .

(10) development of stable relationships. In addition, through collaborations, SMEs are able to build innovative capability and technological competence (Jarratt, 1998; Forrest, 1990) and overcome weaknesses such as a poor financial budget or a lower level of expertise in production, marketing and management. By pooling partners’ resources and acquiring knowledge from others (Davenport, 2005; Dollinger and Golden, 1992), SMEs can enhance their performance. As new technology continues to emerge, IT is the primary tool with which to facilitate communication and collaboration (Olesen and Myers, 1999). IT-enabled collaboration is a technology-based, collaborative system that provides opportunities for both local and geographically dispersed groups to communicate (Hossain and Wigand, 2006). IT is widely used to enable collaboration with partners, especially in supply chain management (Chae et al., 2005; Subramani, 2004; Li, 2006; Paulraj and Chen, 2007). Bakos and Brynjolfsson (1993) noted that search and coordination costs decline due to the use of IT. Bensaou (1997) identified IT as a mechanism that reduces uncertainty because IT can be used to increase inter-organizational information processing capabilities and thereby enhance cooperation with product suppliers with higher technological unpredictability. IT also enables and mediates the sharing of knowledge, the transcending of legal enterprise boundaries, and the providing of information in real time (Paulraj and Chen, 2007; Sexton et al., 2003). Therefore, it helps partners to develop trust (Scott, 2000; Hossain and Wigand, 2006) and establish inter-firm communications (Stump and Sriram, 1997), and it reinforces and stabilizes existing inter-organizational structures and arrangements (Chae et al., 2005).. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. i n U. v. In summary, SMEs benefit from forming alliances with partners to conquer disadvantages, and IT enables this cooperation and makes it more effective and efficient. Therefore, IT plays an important role in the collaboration among partners in SME sectors.. engchi. 2.1.2 Collaborating with customers According to service-dominant logic, the customer is a co-producer of service who must interact with either a service or tangible goods over some time period that extends beyond the transaction (Vargo and Lusch, 2004a). Thus, collaboration with customers - or, in other words, value co-creation cannot be ignored in the context of a firm’s strategy. Value co-creation refers to innovations jointly undertaken by a company and its current and potential consumers (West, 2010). In contrast with traditional marketing approaches, in which value is created for average consumers, the primary purpose of value co-creation is to create unique and specific value for 4 .

(11) individual consumers (Bhalla, 2010). An enhanced value offering only works when the customer appreciates it and value can be gained. SMEs are not typically the central players in an industry, so it might be difficult for them to offer integrated solutions. However, co-evolving with customers and emphasizing fitness-for-use could help (Matthyssens et al., 2009). Philipsen et al. (2007) examined the relationships of small- and medium-sized suppliers with customers. They identified one group of suppliers as “partnership-suppliers,” or suppliers who cooperate closely with customers through regular meetings and co-working to deliver customer-adapted products and services. Consider InercityCom, for example; its relationships with customers have positively contributed to its development of technological capabilities and both the broadening of the scope and strengthening of the focus of its product portfolio. Although coordinating with customers is highly resource demanding and time consuming, the benefits are highly valued.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. According to Prahalad and Ramaswamy (2004), the power of co-valuation lies in connected, informed, and active customers who have a global view and participate in information access, networking and experimentation with products. These activities are somewhat associated with IT; for instance, customers can use the Internet to experiment with and co-develop products.. Nat. y. sit. n. al. er. io. IT enables new forms of producer-consumer collaboration in new product development processes (Füller et al., 2009). For example, a platform for collaborative design allows customers to effectively share their knowledge with producers, making them feel that they are autonomously contributing and that their input will be seriously considered. IT can integrate physical and virtual channels to co-create value for customers. Oh and Teo (2010) stated that the service-delivery system in retail can be adapted for use in IT to improve information access, order fulfillment and customer service, which will generate high customer value. The incorporation of technologies can greatly customize service offerings through the development of new types of services and new ways to provide services (Sheehan, 2006; Froehle et al., 2000).. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Due to the limited size of SMEs, it is difficult for them to compete against large firms that have large-scale economies and can reduce prices. An alternative method for SMEs to establish advantages is to provide an excellent experience for customers (OECD, 2008). Although it requires time and resources to connect with customers, IT can help make communication faster and accurate. As it provides a channel for information sharing with customers, IT-enabled collaboration is becoming 5 .

(12) increasingly important to SMEs. Although IT-enabled collaboration is important to all SMEs, the execution gaps in SMEs that conduct IT-enabled collaboration vary. How does one SME cooperate more effectively than another? The emphasis of the resource-based view on a firm’s resources and capabilities may provide an explanation.. 2.2 Resource-based Theory In this section, we will review traditional and service-oriented RBV to identify trends in service and summarize our understanding after reviewing literatures. 2.2.1 Traditional view According to the traditional view of resourced-based theory, a firm’s competitive advantages are a result of its specific resources and capabilities (Grant, 1991; Barney 1991). However, there is some disagreement regarding the roles of resources and capabilities in a firm. Barney (1991) combined the categories of “capabilities” and “resources” (along with assets, processes, and information), but other researchers (Grant, 1991; Hall, 1992) separated these categories so that resources are defined as the inputs and capabilities are the performances of tasks or activities. Despite the above debate, researchers agree that a firm can evaluate its potential competitive advantages by identifying internal resources and capabilities and formulating a suitable strategy to reduce resource gaps and increase profits (Grant, 1991).. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. io. sit. y. Nat. n. al. er. Nevertheless, identifying and appraising a firm’s resources is a major obstacle. To see the full picture of firm resources, researchers have tried to categorize them. According to Barney (1991) and Grant (1991), resources can be sorted into six categories: financial, physical, human, technological, organizational, and reputation. When both tangible and intangible resources are rare, valuable, durable, irreplaceable, and difficult to imitate or substitute, the firm can generate a sustained competitive advantage.. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Although resources were categorized in previous studies, it remained unclear how these categorizations were related to Barney’s (1991) criteria for resources, namely, that they should be valuable, rare, and difficult to imitate and substitute. Therefore, Miller and Shamsie (1996) revisited one of the criteria, namely, that the resource should be difficult to imitate, to develop the concepts of property-based and knowledge-based resources. Property-based resources are specific and fixed; they protect a firm from competition by creating and guarding assets that are not available to rivals. Knowledge-based resources are less specific and more flexible. Knowledge 6 .

(13) barriers that are subtle and hard for competitors to understand protect these resources from imitation. Moreover, Hall (1992, 1993) claimed that intangible resources play a major role in the strategic management process. He defined four types of intangible resources: assets within the legal context (contracts, licenses, and intellectual property), assets outside of the legal context (reputation, networks, and databases), know-how (of employees, suppliers, and distributors), and organizational culture (perception of quality and service). Intangible resources are the feedstock of capability differentials, which create a firm’s sustainable competitive advantages. Therefore, after the key resources of a business are identified, they need to be explored, protected and developed. Srivastava et al. (2001) applied the RBV to marketing to accurately project, perceive and translate customer value. They proposed a framework in which market-based assets are leveraged via market-facing processes to deliver superior customer value, which contributes to competitive advantages and financial performance. Market-based assets, which are identified as both marketing-specific and RBV attributes, principally consist of two related types: relational and intellectual. Relational market-based assets are external relationships with channels, customers, networks, and ecosystems. Intellectual market-based assets are internal knowledge that a firm possesses regarding the competitive environment.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. sit. y. Nat. n. al. er. io. When using RBV in a strategic alliance, the alignment between inter-partner resources indicates how the alliance affects collective strengths or conflicts (Das and Teng, 2000). Das and Teng (2000) defined resource complementarity with two conditions: the resources have to be dissimilar and used to perform effective service. The issue of resource complementarity is widely discussed in the context of alliances. For instant, Hamel et al. (1989) suggested that partners can complement each other’s weaknesses by realizing when their resources are complementary and using them to achieve mutual gains. In addition, Teece (1986) indicated that when imitation is easy, the owner of complementary assets may accrue profits. Additionally, complementary resources present opportunities for the enhancement of learning and the development of capabilities (Harrison et al., 2001).. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Past literature showed not only that potential partner firms’ resource complementarity contributes to partnerships but also that firms seriously consider similarity of resource statuses before forming an alliance and evaluating how the alliance performs. Resource similarity is defined as the degree to which two partner firms can contribute comparable resources, in terms of both type and amount, to the 7 .

(14) alliance (Chen, 1996). The similarity is high if two partners in an alliance contribute comparable quantities of similar types of resources. Despite Chen’s (1996) focus on the similarity of resource content, Chung et al. (2000) emphasized the similarity of resources “status”, that is, firms will consider the status of potential partners when forming an alliance and are likely to ally with firms of similar status (Podonly, 1994). Chung et al. (2000) argued that firms of a similar status ally with each other because of the signaling role of social interaction and because it is easier to evaluate, communicate and coordinate inter-firm activities, as well as to increase the levels of fairness and commitment in sharing both the costs and benefits of an alliance, in a similar competitive environment. 2.2.2 Service-oriented view After Industrial Revolution, marketing was built on a goods-centered, manufacturing-based economic exchange model, which is known as goods-dominant (G-D) logic (Vargo and Lusch, 2004a; 2004b). G-D logic focuses on tangible resources, embedded value, and transactions. However, in the past few decades, a new service market has emerged. Distinguishing services from goods, service characteristics have been identified as intangibility, inseparability, heterogeneity and perishability (Vargo and Lusch, 2004b). Thus, the dominant logic became service-centered, called “service-dominant (S-D) logic,” which is customer-centric and market-driven, and focused on intangible resources, co-creation of value, and relationships (Vargo and Lusch, 2004a).. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. io. sit. y. Nat. n. al. er. Service was defined as the application of resources for the benefit of another (Spohrer et al., 2008). When RBV is approached from an S-D perspective, it considers the strategic value of a firm’s skills, knowledge and cultural competency (Arnould, 2008). To more accurately understand the relationship between resources and the service-centered view, Vargo and Lusch (2004a) extended usage of operand and operant resources to fit G-D and S-D logic. Operand resources are the resources with which an operation or act is performed to produce effects, and operant resources are employed to act on operand resources and/or other operant resources (Constantin and Lusch, 1994). The former resource type is considered primary according to G-D logic, and the latter is primary according to S-D logic (Vargo and Lusch, 2004a).. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. According to Madhavaram and Hunt (2008), operand resources are typically physical (e.g., plants and equipment), financial (e.g., cash resources and access to financial markets), and legal (e.g., trademarks and licenses), while operant resources are typically human (e.g., individual employees’ skills and knowledge), organizational (e.g., controls, routines, cultures, and competences), informational (e.g., knowledge of 8 .

(15) market segments, competitors, and technology), and relational (e.g., relationships with competitors, suppliers, and customers). 2.2.3 Summary An overview of RBV (see Table 2-1) confirmed the importance of resources to formulating strategies and developing competitive advantages. We then introduced a new resource construct to apply to our research object; namely, we combined operand resources (including financial, physical, and legal/contract resources) and operant resources (including technological, human, organizational, informational, and relational resources), joining resource complementarity and similarity to measure the form of strategic alliance. Author. Type of resources. Definition/Example. 治 technology, plant and 政 Physical 大 and raw materials geographic location,. Physical capital. 立 Human capital. Training , experience, judgment, intelligence, relationships, and the insight of individual managers and workers. Organizational capital. Formal reporting structure, formal and informal planning, controlling and coordinating systems.. Financial. Financial balance sheet. Physical. Plant and machinery. sit. n. al. People, employee skills. er. io. Human. y. Nat. Grant(1991). ‧. ‧ 國. 學. Barney (1991). equipment,. Technological Reputation. Ch. Organizational. i n U. v. Process technology, manufacturing capability. e nBrand hi g creputation. Organizational routines. Intangible assets within a Trademarks, Patents, Copyright, Registered designs legal context. Hall (1992). Constantin and Lusch (1994). Intangible assets without Information in the public domain, Reputation, a legal context Organizational &personal networks Know-how. Know- how of employee, supplier, distributor. Organizational culture. Perception of quality standards, perception of customer service, ability to manage change, ability to innovate, team working ability. Operand resource. The resources on which an operation or an act is performed to produce an effect 9 . .

(16) Miller and Shamsie (1996) Srivastava et al. (2001). Madhavaram and Hunt (2008). Operant resource. The resources are employed to act on operand resources and/or other operant resources.. Property-based. Legal properties owned by firms. Knowledge-based. A firm’s intangible know-how and skills. Relational. Relationships with external stakeholder. Intellectual. The type of knowledge a firm processes in its competitive environment. Financial. Cash, access to financial market. Physical. Plant, equip. Legal. Trademarks, licenses. Human. The skills and knowledge of individual employees. Organizational Informational. 立. Controls, 治 routines, culture, competences 政 Knowledge 大 about market segment, technology. Table 2-1 Resource Categories in RBV. ‧. ‧ 國. Relationships with competitor, supplier, customer. 學. Relational. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 10 . competitor,. i n U. v.

(17) CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FRAMEWORK We developed our research framework, as shown below (see Figure 3-1), according to the existing literature regarding resource-based theory and IT-enabled collaboration. In this research framework, we attempt to examine the relationship between SMEs’ resources, IT-enabled collaboration, and firm performance and to answer the following two questions: (1) what type of SME resources will contribute to IT-enabled collaboration, and (2) will SMEs grow through IT-enabled collaboration?. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學 Figure 3-1 Research Framework. ‧. n. al. er. io. sit. y. Nat. Methods of measuring firm performance have been widely discussed, and numerous methods have been proposed. In Dess and Robinson’s research (1984), two measures of economic performance were used: after-tax return on total assets and growth in sales. The former is commonly viewed as the measure of a firm’s efficiency with regard to profitable use of total assets, and the latter reflects how well a firm relates to market environments. In addition, Youndt et al. (1996) proposed multiple dimensions of operational performance in terms of product quality, employee morale and productivity, on-time delivery, inventory management, equipment utilization, production lead time, and scrap minimization. Furthermore, Reinartz et al. (2004) investigated the organizational practice of implementing CRM processes through relationship initiation, maintenance, and termination. Measures of firm performance can be divided into three parts: financial, operational and relational, and these criteria will be used in the following analysis to judge the performance of SMEs.. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. We propose four items in the RBV sector with which to evaluate SMEs’ resources: (1) operand resources, (2) operant resources, (3) resource complementarity and (4) resource similarity. In addition, we will evaluate IT-enabled collaboration with (1) partners and (2) customers. We will discuss in detail each construct and hypothesis in the following sections. 11 . .

(18) 3.1 SME Resources 3.1.1 Operand resources Operand resources are identified as the resources with which an operation or act is performed to produce effects. They typically include physical, financial and legal resources (Madhavaram and Hunt, 2008), such as cash, plants, equipment, trademarks, and licenses. To implement IT-enabled collaboration, SMEs should have not only aspirations to collaborate with partners and customers but also IT support. When SMEs have rich financial resources, they can conduct business with no financial worries; therefore, they can use excess resources to build up IT infrastructures. SMEs with superior physical resources may have a greater opportunity to purchase, for example, computers and Internet access. Accordingly, when SMEs have more operand resources, there are more possibilities for them to develop IT-enabled collaborations either with partners or customers. Thus, our hypotheses were formed as follows:. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. H1a. SMEs with a greater amount of operand resources are able to participate in better IT-enabled collaborations with partners.. ‧. sit. y. Nat. H1b. SMEs with a greater amount of operand resources are able to participate in better IT-enabled collaborations with customers.. io. al. er. 3.1.2 Operant resources. n. As discussed in the previous chapter, operant resources are employed to act on operand resources and/or other operant resources (Constantin and Lusch, 1994). Based on the work of Madhavaram and Hunt (2008) and RBV theory, we propose five types of operant resources: technological, human, organizational, informational, and relational. Relational resources are firms’ relationships with external stakeholders such as competitors, suppliers and customers.. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. The attitude of SMEs toward collaboration is especially important to IT-enabled collaboration. If SMEs have better relationships (relational resources) and know more (informational resources) about partners and customers, they are more likely to cooperate. In addition, when SMEs have IT skills (technological resources) and are open to new knowledge (informational resources), it is much easier to introduce new IT platforms to assist collaboration. Consequently, the second set of hypotheses is as follows: H2a. SMEs with a greater amount of operant resources are able to participate in 12 .

(19) better IT-enabled collaborations with partners. H2b. SMEs with a greater amount of operant resources are able to participate in better IT-enabled collaborations with customers. According to S-D logic, service is the application of specialized operant resources (e.g., knowledge and skills) through the use of tools and distribution mechanisms (e.g., operand resources) to benefit an entity (Chen et al., 2009). Madhavaram and Hunt (2008) suggested that operant resources are higher on the hierarchy of resources than operand resources and that operant resources are more powerful in helping a firm to achieve a competitive advantage. Moreover, operant resources, which include relational and technological resources, are more directly related to partnership and IT capabilities, which are the two elements of IT-enabled collaboration. Therefore, we hypothesize that:. 治政 H3. Operant resources contribute to IT-enabled collaborations 大 more than operand 立 resources. ‧ 國. 學. 3.1.3 Resource complementarity. ‧. According to Faems et al. (2005), partner collaboration is defined as an interaction process whereby a firm exchanges complementary assets with external partners. Generally, firms are forced to cooperate because they often do not have all of the necessary resources internally. Firms tend to collaborate with those who have complementary resources and capabilities (Tether, 2002). Thus, we expect that when SMEs and their potential partners have complementary resources, they are more likely to collaborate with each other through IT platforms. Our hypothesis is as follows:. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. H4. SMEs with complementary resources are more likely to engage in IT-enabled collaborations with each other. 3.1.4 Resource similarity Resource similarity is viewed as the degree to which two partnering firms can contribute resources that are comparable in both type and amount (Chen, 1996). In our research, we focus on the status of firms to evaluate resource similarity. Podonly (1994) claimed that when firms seek partners to form an alliance, they are likely to ally with firms of similar status. According to Lorange and Roos (1993), when firms compete with each other on the basis of their status, firms of similar status will be in a similar competitive environment and have similar operational systems and practices, which will lead to the more effective cooperation of partner firms. In addition, a firm tends to seek partners with a similar status because doing so may increase fairness and 13 .

(20) the commitment of all parties to share costs and benefits. If the partner status is dissimilar, then the alliance is unequal. The partner of higher status may not satisfy the expectations of the firm of lower status, and the latter may not contribute enough resources to make the alliance mutually beneficial. These potential conflicts make alliances between dissimilar firms less effective (Chung et al., 2000). Accordingly, we propose that when potential partners have similar resource statuses, an SME is more likely to collaborate with them through IT platforms. Specifically, the hypothesis is as follows: H5. SMEs with similar resource statuses are more likely to engage in an IT-enabled collaboration with each other.. 3.2 IT-enabled Collaboration. 政治大. 3.2.1 Collaborating with partners. 立. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. According to our literature review in the last chapter, collaboration with partners is defined as any independent inter-firm link that involves exchange, sharing or co-development (Gulati, 1995a; Kale et al., 2002). Because SMEs are short of resources, they can form alliances to obtain necessary resources and capabilities (Fernández and Nieto, 2005). Moreover, IT makes this coordination more feasible (Kumar and Dissel, 1996).. y. Nat. sit. n. al. er. io. Through collaboration with partners, firms not only earn financial profits, but they also make nonfinancial improvements such as better customer service, faster speed to market, and better utilization of resources, all of which are incentives to increase collaboration (Smith et al., 2007). Furthermore, IT-enabled collaboration lowers the search and coordination costs associated with the formation of a partnership (Bakos and Brynjolfsson, 1993) and provides an intermediary platform for partners to share knowledge, provide timely information, and transcend the boundaries of firms (Paulraj and Chen, 2007; Sexton et al., 2003). Consequently, we developed the following hypothesis:. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. H6. SMEs that engage in more IT-enabled collaboration with partners are more likely to achieve better performance. 3.2.2 Collaborating with customers As discussed in the previous chapter, collaborating with customers refers to the joint undertaking of practices by a company and its customers (West, 2010). In service economics, customers are viewed as the co-producers of products and services. Although connecting with customers is a significantly time-consuming and 14 .

(21) resource-demanding process for SMEs, Philipsen et al. (2007) argued that good relationships with customers contribute positively to the development of capabilities and the scope and focus of a firm’s product portfolio. Through collaboration with customers, firms are able to create superior value offerings that are relevant to target customers and result in firms receiving benefits in terms of revenues, profits, and referrals, for example (Payne et al., 2008). Additionally, by successfully managing value co-creation and exchange with customers, firms can seek to maximize the lifetime value of desirable customer segments (Payne and Frow, 2005). With the help of IT, firms can form new channels with which to collaborate with customers, effectively share knowledge (Füller et al., 2009), and maintain high information access, order fulfillment and customer service, which will generate high customer value (Oh and Teo, 2010). Thus, we suggest that SMEs will perform better when they constantly engage in IT-enabled collaborations with customers:. 政治大 H7. SMEs that engage in more IT-enabled collaborations with customers are more 立 likely to achieve better performance. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 15 . i n U. v.

(22) CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 4.1 Case Background The tourism industry is emerging in response to an increasing number of people interested in engaging in leisure activities. However, the tourism industry is dominated by SMEs (OECD, 2008). SMEs are usually limited by their resources, rendering it difficult for them to meet customer expectations and deliver better service quality. In this context, we have conducted our research in the tourism industry. Our research subjects are all based in the Yilan County Mt. Pillow Leisure Agriculture Area. The SMEs in this area include, among others, bed and breakfasts (B&B), farms, orchards and restaurants. Because each SME has different and limited resources, it is difficult for them to meet diverse customer demands if they run their business on their own. To offer customers more activities to participate or more sites to visit, some SMEs have formed simple collaborations in an ad-hoc manner.. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. ‧. We implemented the case study methodology for this research. We chose to conduct interviews with eight case firms providing a range of services. A1 is a B&B with a part-time host. A2 is a medium-sized sightseeing orchard. A3 is a small wholesaler of Chinese snacks that intends to transform into a DIY provider where customers will make their own snacks. A4 is a successful B&B that has been cited by some popular Taiwanese dramas. A5 and A6 are B&Bs that rent their spare rooms to more or less support their family. A7 is a leisure farm growing white michelia, and the new host only recently began renting the farm from the original proprietor and is trying to add new services and products. A8 is a leisure farm growing bamboo shoots, but its main source of revenue is its well-known organic restaurant. Because the SMEs at Mt. Pillow Leisure Agriculture Area have not yet created a unified IT-enabled collaborative platform, we extended the target platform to whatever can provide a channel for SMEs to obtain information, directly communicate and interact, and engage in collaboration with customers and other SMEs. The IT-enabled collaborative platforms we considered were, among others, blogs, guestbooks, and social networking websites. The descriptions of eight SMEs and IT collaborative platforms they used are shown in Table 4-1.. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. In our research, we aim to determine which types of SMEs tend to engage in IT-enabled collaboration. We are also interested in determining whether SMEs can enhance their performance though collaboration using these platforms. The results of 16 .

(23) this research can help IT operators target the appropriate SMEs with specific resources and have more compelling reasons with which to promote collaborative platforms.. A1. A2. A3. Description. B&B. A SME that provides customers accommodations and homemade products.. Orchard. Blog A SME that provides customers with orchard for Facebook fruit picking and DIY experiencing. Guestbook. Restaurant. A SME that makes a variety of Chinese snacks and intend to transform into DIY experiencing Blog which will be available few months after.. 政治大. A SME is known for Taiwanese trendy drama filming location that provides accommodations Facebook with high-class facilities and natural landscapes of Guestbook Mt. Pillow.. n. al. er. sit. A SME that provides customers with home-feel Blog accommodations, natural landscapes of Mt. Pillow Facebook beside, orchard in the backyard, and DIY Guestbook experiencing.. io. B&B. y. Nat. A5. Blog Facebook Guestbook. ‧. B&B. 立. with. 學. A4. IT collaborative platform used. Category. ‧ 國. No. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. B&B. A SME that provides customers with accommodations and an overlook of the natural Facebook landscapes at top of the Mt. Pillow in the backyard.. A7. Farm. A SME that provides customers with magnolia Blog garden for visiting, DIY experiencing, and related Facebook products.. A8. Farm. A SME that provides all kind of bamboo shoots Blog DIY experiencing, meals, and related activities.. A6. Table 4-1 Detail of Eight Cases 17 .

(24) 4.2 Data Collection The primary data sources were face-to-face interviews conducted from April 2012 to May 2012. To gain research insights, we designed semi-constructed questions based on our research framework. Basically, we conducted two interviews of each case. The first of these interviews focused on SMEs’ background, products and services, and the second focused on their resources, IT capabilities and other information related to our research. Each interview lasted approximately one hour to ensure a thorough survey. All interviews were recorded, and all sessions were transcribed before the data analysis. To ensure the internal validity, external validity, construct validity and reality of the case study, we applied Yin’s (2003) case study techniques to our research (shown in Table 4-2). The analyzed results of our interview framework are summarized in the next chapter.. Tests. 治政 Case Study Tactic and the 大立tactic occurs Implementation in this study phase in which ‧ 國. sit. y. Ch. We developed our research framework to process the 8 cases in order to test external validity of our hypothesis.. er. al. n. Reality. Use replication logic in multiple cases in research design phase. io. Construct validity. Nat. External validity. We conducted a cross-case analysis in our multiple-case study and a series of iterative work to examine the framework.. ‧. Internal validity. Conduct an explanation-building in data analysis phase. 學. (Yin, 2003). i n U. v. i data were collected via e n gThe c hprimary. Use multiple sources of evidence in data collection phase. Use case study protocol in data collection phase. interviews. Other information from cases’ own websites, governmental promoting DMs were also considered as important data sources. We used semi-structured guide to all interviews. The guide were included several open questions that allowed participants to flexibly response.. Table 4-2 Validities and Realities Tests. 18 .

(25) CHAPTER 5: CASE ANALYSIS 5.1 Data Analysis Given that there are different types of resource processing, which types of SMEs are more likely to engage in IT-enabled collaboration and in turn increase performance? To answer this question, in this section, we will analyze these interview data and apply the research framework we proposed in the previous chapter to the eight different cases. The results are summarized and shown in Table 5-1. SME resources Operand resources, by definition, are resources with which an operation or an act is performed to produce an effect (Constantin and Lusch, 1994), including physical, financial and legal/contract resources. We analyzed the operand resources of each case using two variables: “scale of equipment compared to that of other SMEs” and “financial status.” For the first variable, we considered a case’s scale of equipment relative to the average level and then assigned to each case a rank of “Low”, “Medium” and “High”. For the second variable, we assessed whether the income derived from the business supports the owners’ personal expenses and gave the cases ratings from “Low” to “High”. We then averaged the two scores to produce the final ranking.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. io. sit. y. Nat. n. al. er. Possessing no suites and no in-room televisions, case A1’s B&B is simpler than the other establishments. Customers with lower travel budgets and quality requirements are the target group of this B&B. Because the host couple has their own jobs, they have no burden of living. The income of the B&B provides them some help with taxes and utility costs. In sum, A1 has a Low to Medium level of operand resources.. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. A2 is a medium-sized sightseeing orchard. Because it has been operating for longer than other orchards, the government subsidized and helped them to plan their orchard. In addition to selling fruits, they also provide tour guide services and a DIY experience. However, it is difficult to earn profits from operating a sightseeing orchard. We rate A2’s operand resources at a low to Medium level. A3 markets Chinese snacks. This case firm is smaller than large wholesale factory but has more and better equipment such as freezers and stirrers than common bakeries. This firm’s main customers are restaurants, and its business is stable enough to support the owner’s family. We thus rate A3 as having a Medium level of operand 19 .

(26) resources. A4 is a famous B&B in Yilan. The owners built the house both for their family and for the B&B, so the space is well designed and planned. In addition, A4 is also a filming location for some Taiwanese trendy dramas and consequently attracts many customers. We thus rate A3 as having a High level of operand resources. A5 and A6 are both B&Bs that rent their spare rooms to run this business. In addition their income from their B&Bs, they also have other financial resources. Although the businesses are not performing very well, the earnings of their B&Bs more or less support their personal expenses. We thus give the operand resources of A5 and A6 a Medium rating. A7’s owner is the new operator of a leisure farm, which he is renting from the original owner. The site is humble but is difficult to remodel it because the land is owned by many people. In addition, because this business is in the startup phase,. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. expenses are much greater than income. We thus rate the operand resources of A7 at a Low level.. ‧. The owner of A8 emphasized that her offered meals use authentic food ingredients and that her site’s decor is not its strength. Her husband’s salary and the business’s highly profitable summer season are enough for the entire year’s expenses. Consequently, we rate the operand resource of A8 at a Medium level.. sit. y. Nat. io. al. er. Below are interview excerpts representing different levels of operand resources:. n. “Our weakness is that we only have single room – no suites. If customers want to live more comfortable, they won’t chose here. Customers like students and families are common customers. Here, we do not have TV; some customers will consider this.” (A1). Ch. engchi. i n U. v. “We are…so-so compared to others in our industry. There are others that are larger than we are. We have more government subsidies than others, probably because we have been operating for a long time. The government also helps us to arrange the orchard.”(A2) “But it still hard to live, it is difficult to rise prices when we only depend on guiding and DIY instructing.”(A2) “In these years, restaurants constantly purchase our products; it means that they recommend our products. If we seize the opportunity, we’ll be able to survive.”(A3) 20 .

(27) “We established this business six to seven years ago. At that time, our equipment was quite good and unique. At the beginning, we thought the revenue could pay off our loan, but we never imagined that we would be doing so well in these years.” (A4) Operant resources, by definition, are resources employed to act on operand resources and/or other operant resources, including human, technological, organizational, informational and relational resources. We analyzed three evidences to assess the operant resources of each case firm: “Computer skills”, “Innovation/Change intention” and “Customer relationship management”. A description of each evidence is shown in Table 5-1. For each case firm, we gave each term a rating and took the average of all three to generate an overall rating. According to our interview, the host of A1 uses computers to operate the business, and she spends time on the Internet every day. She is willing to learn something new but is adopting a passive approach. In addition, she previously engaged in limited customer relationship management, such as sending birthday cards to customers, but recently has engaged in fewer activities of this sort. In sum, A1 has a Medium to High level of operant resources.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. al. er. io. sit. y. Nat. The owner of A2 has basic computer skills but lacks advanced skills. He has an idea of how to increase turnover and is willing to change. In addition, he has a good relationship with his customers and continuously contacts them after their stay. Therefore, A2’s operant resources are at a Medium to High level.. n. A3’s holder has little computer knowledge. Because he is busy at work, he has not updated information on his blog for a long time. However, he is active in change, and he brought up the idea of industrial transformation. His relationships with his customers center on the moment of service. Therefore, we rank the operant resources of A3 at a Medium level.. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. The host of A4 has good computer skills and can efficiently use IT to promote his B&B. His mantra is “To be myself”, so he has less desire to change. He does not intend to pursue close relationships with customers, but he does use the Internet to continually influence them unobtrusively and imperceptibly. We rank the operand resources of A4 at a Medium level. A5’s host has a moderate level of computer skills. She is willing to learn and makes some adjustments according to customers’ suggestions. Most of her customers return or recommend her B&B to others. They maintain communications after leaving her B&B. Therefore, A5’s operant resources are at a Medium to High level. 21 .

(28) Computer handling is difficult for A6. The host sometimes adopts suggestions from customers depending on their situation. She is not active in managing customer relationships. Accordingly, the operant resource of A6 is at a Low to Medium level. The operator of A7 has the ability to develop his own blog and understands the IT platform. He is passionate about his new job and has plans to make innovative changes. Customer relationships are made and fostered when customers visit. As a result, the level of operant resource of A7 is Medium to High. A8 does not use a computer or the Internet. Its main promotion channel is through the government, the media and customers. She is satisfied with her current performance, so she does not consider making any changes. She has good relationships with her customers, owing to her charming personality during face-to-face interactions. Therefore, A8’s operant resources are at a Low to Medium level.. 立. 政治大. Below are interview excerpts of different levels of operant resources:. ‧ 國. 學. “I don’t use a computer. My eyes are not too good.”(A8). ‧. “I can go on the Internet, post articles on a blog…those basic skills. But I lack the advanced skills, like copyfitting.”(A2). er. io. sit. y. Nat. “I think that compared to other SMEs in Yilan, my IT capability is better than others. I know how to use many free IT channels to promote our B&B.” (A4) “No…change is the next generation’s affair. I will not change, and I think conditions are currently pretty good.”(A8). al. n. v i n “I will participate inC DOC h ecourses n g cifhI ihaveU free time. But I have already. learned most of the content.” (A1). “Now, I want to develop some DIY activities, like with these leaves. Manufacturing may turn these leaves from trash to gold.” (A7) “Customers come by themselves. I do not have a good memory…A customer said he has came here before, but I still forget who he is.”(A6) “Last time, a group of customers came here and took pictures. They posted the pictures on Facebook, so I ‘like’ it and said welcome back. After that, the entrepreneur came to Yilan and brought me a radish cake.” (A5) Resource complementarity and Resource similarity are described as “the principles of partner selection” in terms of complementarity and similarity. We thus asked each case the following question: “What are your concerns when choosing 22 .

(29) SMEs to collaborate with or recommend?” According to interviews, A1, A5 and A6 referred their customers to other B&Bs when they were filled to capacity. A2 thought that an alliance with firms in different sectors is preferable. A3 also mentioned that partners in an alliance should provide different services to be valuable. A4 considered that recommending other SMEs to customers are endorsements, so he strictly chose businesses at similar levels to make alliances across fields. A7 only considered relationships with SMEs in other fields. Moreover, depending on customers’ needs, A8 recommended similar scale business. In total, there are 3 levels of resource complementarity: no concept, no formal plan to complement, and well-arranged complementarity. We thus rated the level of resource complementarity of A7 and A8 as Low, that of A1, A5 and A6 as Medium, and that of A2, A3 and A4 as High. In addition, the cases we interviewed can be divided into two groups: with and without the concept of resource similarity, on which only A4 and A8 offered comments.. 治政 Below are excerpts of our interview: 大立 “In our B&B sector, if our rooms are occupied, we will recommend other ‧ 國. 學. B&Bs to our customers, and they will introduce their customers as well.” (A1). ‧. “I won’t choose the partner who provides the same service. Making onion cakes here, there and everywhere is boring! We provided different products to customers – it’s more valuable.” (A3). y. Nat. sit. n. al. er. io. “Sometimes the customers want us to recommend other B&Bs – it’s really a big pressure. Those customers who like A4 will not easily switch to other B&Bs. In addition, some business in this area have said, why don’t we introduce customers to them. How can I send customers there if I have received complains about that business more than once? So, I will find equally good businesses to form alliances.”(A4). Ch. engchi. i n U. v. IT-enabled collaboration IT-enabled collaboration with partners is described as “the degree of interaction between SMEs through IT platforms.” We judged cases from three levels: do not/ mostly do not interact with other SMEs through IT; engage in basic interactions with SMEs through IT platforms; and engage in discussion or coordination with a business partner through IT platforms. We gave these levels the corresponding ratings of “Low”, “Medium”, and “High”. Through our interviews and analysis, A2, A3, A6 and A8 do not interact with other SMEs through IT and usually conduct communications in person or over the phone. We thus ranked these 4 cases as Low IT-enabled collaboration with partners. In 23 .

(30) addition, A1, A4, A5 and A7 engage in basic interactions, such as leaving massages and sharing pictures with other SMEs on Facebook to maintain friendships. We thus gave these 4 cases a Medium rating. However, no case in our interviews cooperates with partners with the help of IT. “We (SMEs) exchange information sometimes, like about difficult customers. But we only use face-to-face communication; we seldom go through the internet.” (A6) “I sometimes interact with other SMEs on Facebook. Give them a thumbs up or leave messages… just like with general friendships.” (A5) As mentioned above, we denote IT-enabled collaboration with customers cases as an SME is able to communicate with both existing and potential customers through at least one IT platform. Therefore, to measure the level of IT-enabled collaboration with customers, we created ratings from Low to High depending on the frequency with which the firm communicates with customers through IT-enabled collaboration.. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. ‧. According to the interviews, A1 often replied to customers on their guestbook and contacted them by e-mail. However, she adopted a more passive attitude with regard to IT-enabled collaboration with customers. We gave this special case an average rating. In contrast to this first case, A2, A5, and A7 showed similar characteristics; they sometimes interact with their customers and believe that IT truly helps them to communicate with their customers. Because of their medium frequency in interactions with customers through IT platforms, we denote these cases as having a Medium level for this category. A3, A6, and A8 are similar in their little use of IT to support their business operation, let alone to engage in collaboration opportunities on IT-enabled platforms. We thus gave these firms a Low rating. In contrast, A4, who was given a High rating in IT-enabled collaboration with customers, interacts with people on various Internet platforms every day. A4 considered IT platforms to be valuable not only for promoting its business but for learning more about customers.. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Below are excerpts from our interviews: “For example, the guestbook really works. If someone tells us that there are too many mosquitoes, I need to handle the situation, or if someone says that the environment is messy, I will sweep immediately.” (A7) “Some of my Facebook friends are our fans. I will show some pictures of our lives and surroundings. Let them spontaneously learn more about our B&B. Also, I search our firm’s name on Google everyday to learn what customers think of us.”(A4) 24 .

(31) Performance The performance measures have been widely discussed in past literatures. We assessed the firms’ performance based on whether they are improving in terms of income generating, partner relationship building and customer relationship building. We gave ratings of “Low” to “High” depending on the amount of evidence indicating their performance in these areas. We found from the interviews that A1 earns income by selling the product and has better relationships with customers by interacting with them; A2, A3, A6 and A8 have not seen income growth or an improvement in their relationships with customers and partners; A4 has successfully reduced advertising costs, gained income and improved relationships with customers and partners; A5 has not substantially increased income but finds that interaction with partners and customers is helpful for maintaining a good relationship; A7 has not yet begun to operate but has forged good relationships with partners. Therefore, we determined that A4 presents the highest performance, A1 and A5 have medium performance, A7 has low-to-medium performance, and A2, A3, A6 and A8 have the lowest level of performance.. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. Below are excerpts from our interviews:. ‧. io. sit. y. Nat. “For example, I have good relationships with some SMEs. Although I am not currently connected to their friends, I will still try to add them as friends on Facebook.” (A7). n. al. er. “Through Facebook, I recognize some SMEs in other areas, and we interact sometimes on Facebook. Also, customers have asked me to recommend a few restaurants for New Years on Facebook and then later thank me on Facebook because the one I recommended was really good and cheap.” (A5). Ch. engchi. i n U. v. “I use the information technology to do marketing for free. I also have 900 friends on Facebook, including both SMEs and customers, most of them actively add me as friend. I think this kind of interaction is a pretty good, not too commercial, but unobtrusive way to promote our B&B.” (A4). 25 .

(32) . Operand resource. Equipment scale Financial status. Operant resource. Computer skills Innovation/Change intention  Customer relationship management. Resource complementarity. Partner selection principle with complementarity concept. A2. Medium. High. Resource similarity. Partner selection principle with similarity concept. No. IT-enabled collaboration with partners. The level of interaction with partners through IT. IT-enabled collaboration with customers. The level of interaction with customers through IT. Performance. Income generating Partner relationship building Customer relationship building. A3. Low to. Low to. Medium. Medium. A5. A6. A7. A8. Medium. Medium. Low. Medium. Medium. Low to. Medium. Low to. to High. Medium. to High. Medium. High. Medium. Medium. High. High. Medium. Medium. Low. Low. No. No. Yes. No. No. No. Yes. Medium. Low. Low. Medium. Medium. Low. Medium. Low. Medium. Medium. Low. High. Medium. Low. Medium. Low. Low. High. Medium. Low. 學. sit. y. ‧. n. al. Ch. n engchi U Medium. Low. iv. Table 5-1 Analytical Result of Eight Cases. 26 . A4. Medium. Medium 治政 Medium to High to 大 High. 立. io. Dependent variable. A1. Nat. Moderating variable. Definition/Evidence. er. Independent variable. Item. ‧ 國. Factor. Low to Medium. Low.

(33) 5.2 Discussion Across the eight cases, we observed different levels of SME resource, IT-enabled collaboration and SME performance. In this chapter, we will discuss the results in comparison to our research framework.. 5.2.1 Impact of operand and operant resource on IT-enabled collaboration Data analysis revealed that the operand resource level is Low for A7; Low to Medium for A1 and A2; Medium for A3, A5, A6 and A8; and High for A4. Moreover, the operant resource levels are Low to Medium for A6 and A8; Medium for A3 and A4; and Medium to High for A1, A2, A5 and A7. In addition, the level of IT-enabled collaboration with partners is Low in cases A2, A3, A6 and A8 and Medium in cases A1, A4, A5 and A7. In addition, the level of IT-enabled collaboration with customers in Low in cases A3, A6 and A8; Medium in cases A1, A2, A5 and A8; and High in. 政治大 case A4. To easily comprehend relationships between different levels of resources 立 IT- enabled collaboration, we converted range of levels from Low to High to 1 to 5. In. ‧ 國. 學. the following paragraphs, we will examine hypotheses H1a, H1b, H2a, H2b and H3, which we introduced in the previous chapter.. ‧. n. al. er. io. sit. y. Nat. First, we examine hypothesis H1a, which states that “SMEs with a greater amount of operand resources are able to participate in better IT-enabled collaborations with partners”. The relationships between operand resources and IT-enabled collaboration with partners in 8 cases are shown in Figure 5-1-a. The line shown in all figures is produced by Microsoft Office Excel 2007 based on linear regression which presents the relationship between two factors. According to Figure 5-1-a, we find no significant relationship between these two items, rejecting hypothesis H1a. Next, we examine hypothesis H1b, which proposed a positive relationship between operand resources and IT-enabled collaborations with customers. The results from our case study are shown in Figure 5-1-b. As we can see in Figure 5-1-b, the relationship between operand resources and IT-enabled collaboration with customers is generally positive, except for A3, A6 and A8, which have a Medium rating in operand resources but a Low rating in IT-enabled collaboration with customers. These three cases report a lack of computer skills, managing their customer relationships without the use of IT.. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. We considered why operand resources support IT-enabled collaboration with customers but not with partners and determined the possible reasons for this phenomenon by analyzing the interview transcripts. When a SME has rich operand resources, it can provide services on its own without collaboration with others; in addition, with rich operand resources, the SME is able to provide better service to its 27 .

(34) customers. Similar comments are made by A1 and A2 as well: “The SMEs who run their business well won’t collaborate with others. They care about themselves …and it’s enough for them.” (A2). 立. Figure 5-1-a. 政治大 Figure 5-1-b. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. Second, we examine hypothesis H2a, which states that “SMEs with a greater amount of operant resources are able to participate in better IT-enabled collaborations with partners”. The relationship between operant resources and IT-enabled collaboration with partners for the 8 case firms is shown in Figure 5-2-a. As we can see in Figure 5-2-a, the relationship between these two items is roughly positive, which supports our hypothesis. Only A2 and A3 diverge from the trend, as they engage in innovative thinking and have good relationships but only engage in non-IT communication with partners. Consequently, we examine hypothesis H2b, which proposes a positive relationship between operand resources and IT-enabled collaborations with customers. The positive relationship based on the case studies, as shown in Figure 5-2-b, supports our hypothesis. A3 represents the only exception, being too busy to manage customer relationships through IT.. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 28 . i n U. v.

(35) Figure 5-2-a. Figure 5-2-b. We then examine hypothesis H3, which states that “operant resources contribute more to IT-enabled collaborations than operand resources.” We combined the results of IT-enabled collaboration with partners and customers to obtain an overall score.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. According to Figure 5-3-a and Figure 5-3-b, we find that operand and operant resources both contribute positively to IT-enabled collaboration. Moreover, operant resources contribute more, as shown by the steeper slope of the trend line; this result supports our hypothesis.. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. Figure 5-3-a. i n U. v. Figure 5-3-b. 5.2.2 Impact of resource complementarity and similarity on IT-enabled collaboration We found from analyzing the interviews that the resource complementarity level is Low for A7 and A8; Medium for A1, A5 and A6; and High for A2, A3 and A4. In addition, the resource similarity score is Yes for A4 and A8 and No for the remainder. To simplify the data analysis and maintain consistency, the answers Yes and No translate to the scores 5 and 1. 29 .

(36) We examine hypotheses H4 and H5, which state that “SMEs with complementary resources/similar resource status are more likely to engage in IT-enabled collaborations with each other.” However, the relationships shown in Figure 5-4-a and Figure 5-4-b indicate that there is no effect of resource complementarity and resource similarity on IT-enabled collaboration with partners. The results of the case study do not support our hypotheses. Because of restriction in our data collection, we cannot obtain thorough information about all collaboration partners and SMEs that the firms had interacted and communicated with through IT platforms. Instead, we asked the case firms about their intention to collaborate with SMEs with complementary resources and similar resource levels. Nevertheless, although the firms show a willingness to cooperate with SMEs with complementary resources and similar resource levels, most of their communications do not employ IT. We find clues from interviews such as the following:. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. “I am not really good at using a computer. But comparing other SMEs in this area, my capability is sort of above average since they are older. Most communication between us mainly takes place by phone calls.” (A5). n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. Figure 5-4-a. i n U. v. Figure 5-4-b. 5.2.3 Impact of IT-enabled collaboration on SME performance In this section, we attempt to determine the relationship between IT-enabled collaboration and performance. Following data analysis, we rank the performance of A2, A3, A6 and A8 as Low; A7 as Low to Medium; A1 and A5 as Medium; and A4 as High. We first examine hypothesis H6, which states that SMEs that engage in more IT-enabled collaboration with partners are more likely to achieve better performance. 30 .